At one point Digg was one of the most popular websites on the internet and yet 2 weeks ago Betaworks bought the Digg brand, website and technology for just $500,000. The seven year old site was once valued at $175m but has been in a slow decline for years now.

At one point Digg was at the forefront of internet thinking, allowing you to up vote (or 'digg') content to the front page. This acted as a predecessor to Facebook's 'Like' idea. Unfortunately as the market place grew Digg was unable to keep up with sites such as Facebook, Twitter and its main competitor Reddit.

One of the first nails in the coffin came back in 2007 when users posted an encyption to "crack" HD DVD discs. The site's founder, Kevin Rose, decided to take it upon himself to delete the posters' accounts leading to a users revolt.

The site's fall from grace in 2007 unfortunately coincided with the steady rise of Reddit, arguably its main competitor.

Betaworks apparently plan to combine Digg with News.me, an iPhone app that delivers stories shared by your friends on Twitter and Facebook.

So although Digg may be buried now it isn't necessarily dead. Betaworks, known for creating the link shortening service Bit.ly, stated that they will take Digg "back to its essence: the best place to find, read and share the stories the internet is talking about right now."